Homeowners Face Property Tax Hikes

December 25, 1996|By Hal Dardick.

AURORA — For residents of the DuPage County portion of Aurora, city property taxes will increase by about 4.5 percent next year, but residents of the Kane County part of the city will have a 3 percent increase under a tax levy approved this week by the City Council.

In passing an overall levy of $25.85 million, an increase of 7.2 percent, for the city and public library, the council also capped its city tax rate at $1.56 for every $100 of assessed valuation, a decrease of less than a penny from the 1996 rate.

By capping the rate at $1.56, the council ensured that individual city property tax bills will increase by about the same rate as the assessment on the property, Mayor David Pierce said.

Although those increases are lower than 6.4 percent, the increase in the city portion of the levy, much of that hike will be paid for by owners of new homes and businesses in the city.

In Naperville Township, which includes the DuPage portion of the city on its far east side, assessments are expected to increase by 4.5 percent, said Assessor Warren Dixon. In Aurora Township, which comprises most of the rest of the city, assessments are expected to increase by 3 percent, said Assessor David Offutt.

Figures were not immediately available for Sugar Grove Township on the far west side of the city, but flooding that occurred last summer in the Cherry Hill and Lakeside of Sans Souci subdivisions are expected to lower assessments there, leading to a decrease in property taxes.

Dixon said about 200 properties in Naperville Township will see an overall one-year reduction of about $1.3 million in assessed valuation due to flood damage, and Offutt said about 400 properties in Aurora Township will see a one-year reduction of $1.6 million.